THE  MISSIONARY  OPPORTUNITY 
OF  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 


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“THE  SMOKE  OF  A 


THOUSAND  VILLAGES” 


By  JOSEPH  CLARK,  D.D. 

General  Secretary  of  the  Ohio  Sunday  School 
Association 


The  Opening  Address  of  the  Conference  on  the 
Sunday  School  and  Missions  of  the  Young 
People’s  Missionary  Movement  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  Silver 
Bay,  New  York,  July  16, 1908 


) 


New  York 

Missionary  Education  Movement 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada 
1912 


Copyright,  1908,  by 

Young  People's  Missionary  Movement 
of  the  Untied  Si  ates  and  Canada 


“THE  SMOKE  OF  A 
THOUSAND  VILLAGES” 


I wish  I were  a painter.  I would  put  upon 
canvas  a picture  in  Great  Britain’s  history 
back  in  the  thirties,  Robert  Moffat  facing 
David  Livingstone.  Just  two  characters: 
Livingstone,  trained  for  service,  waiting 
his  marching  orders,  and  Moffat,  fresh 
from  Africa,  seeking  help  in  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  Dark  Continent.  History 
caught  little  of  what  was  said  that  day, 
but  enough  to  tell  us  that,  under  God, 
Moffat  spoke  twenty  words  which  gave 
to  Livingstone  his  life’s  vision,  and  turned 
him  from  China  to  Africa. 

What  were  the  historic  words  spoken 
by  Moffat?  He  said,  “/  have  sometimes 
seen,  in  the  morning  sun,  the  smoke  of  a 
thousand  villages  where  no  missionary  has 
ever  been." 

That  was  enough  ! It  was  the  call  from  an 
African  Macedonia  to  a nineteenth  century 
Sk  Paul.  In  that  brief  sentence  Livingstone 
had  revealed  to  him  his  opportunity.  From 
that  moment  his  life’s  work  was  the  task  of 
carrying  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the 
“thousand  villages”  whose  smoke  was 
ever  upon  the  horizon  of  his  activities.  In 
the  sunlight  of  each  new  morning  Living- 
stone saw  the  ‘ ‘ smoke  of  a thousand  vil- 
lages,” the  “pillar  of  cloud”  that  lured 
him  on  in  his  work . In  each  smoke-clouded 
African  sun  he  read  the  sign  of  need  that 
stimulated  him  to  renewed  endeavor.  It 


was  the  one  youth-given  vision  of  oppor- 
tunity that  oncoming  years  were  never  to 
dim. 

In  this  address  we  are  to  consider  the 
missionary  opportunity  of  the  Sunday- 
school.  We  are  not  to  dwell  upon  its  duty 
nor  its  responsibility.  Human  nature  has 
little  love  for  the  goad  of  duty — the  stir- 
rings of  conscience  that  drive  to  unwel- 
comed tasks.  But  it  welcomes  a guide 
that  points  to  doors  of  opportunity.  We 
are,  therefore,  to  lure,  not  to  compel  ; 
to  awaken  to  enthusiastic  endeavor,  not  to 
goad  to  action;  to  stimulate,  not  to  drive. 

Sunday-school  specialists  are  generally 
agreed  that  when  the  Sunday-school  comes 
to  its  missionary  aivakening  the  world  will 
be  quickly  won  to  Jesus  Christ.  The 
Sunday-school  is  a sleeping  giant.  It 
knows  not  its  pouTer.  Once  shown  its  or- 
ganic relation  to  the  evangelization  of  the 
world  it  will  spend  its  energies  for  the 
world  rather  than  for  the  community.  It 
has  a relation  to  the  community  which 
rightfully  claims  a part  of  its  work  at  its 
“ Jerusalem,”  but  it  will  at  the  same  time 
keep  in  constant  vital  touch  with  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  and  extend  its  influence  to 
the  uttermost  bounds  of  the  kingdom. 
‘‘The  light  that  shines  farthest  shines 
brightest  at  home.” 

We  shall  mention  only  a few  missionary 
opportunities  that  confront  the  Sunday- 
school  of  to-day — opportunities  that  should 
help  it  see  the  ‘‘smoke  of  a thousand 
villages,”  and  stir  it  to  action. 

I.  The  Opportunity  of  an  Established 
Organization 

The  Christian  world  little  realizes  the 
dormant  possibilities  of  the  modern  Sun- 


4 


day-school.  It  is  a mighty  organization 
ready  for  action — a gigantic  piece  of  ma- 
chinery with  unlimited  productive  capacity 
—a  200,000  horse-power  engine,  expend- 
ing less  than  half  its  energy,  doing  less 
than  half  the  work  for  which  it  is  de- 
signed. It  is  not  a machine  to  be  con- 
structed. It  is  here,  in  place,  in  action. 
Its  wheels  are  whirling.  It  is  studying 
the  Word,  teaching  the  children,  shaping 
lives,  touching  homes,  enlisting  men, 
forming  character,  producing  Christian  citi- 
zenship ; but  its  activities  have  been 
largely  local.  Its  energies  have  been  util- 
ized for  our  school,  our  church,  our  com- 
munity. Its  world  of  endeavor  has  been 
bounded  by  the  sky-line  of  neighboring 
hills  and  valleys.  It  has  lacked  the  world- 
vision  so  essential  to  a large  life  of  sympa- 
thy and  usefulness  and  so  essential  to  the 
highest  local  success. 

The  Sunday-school  needs  to  meet  a 
Moffat,  and  to  see  “ the  smoke  of  a thou- 
sand villages  where  no  missionary  has  ever 
been.”  Then,  and  not  till  then,  will  it 
have  a new  interpretation  of  the  Great 
Commission.  When  the  Sunday-school 
has  the  vision  of  the  world’s  need  it  will 
look  in  vain  for  a horizon  to  limit  its  mis- 
sionary interest  and  activitj’. 

II.  The  Opportunity  of  Training  and 
Inspiring  Missionary  Leaders  Through 
Organized  Sunday  School  Work 

The  International  Sunday  School  Asso- 
ciation and  its  auxiliary  organizations  in 
states,  provinces,  counties,  and  minor  ter- 
ritorial divisions  offers  marvelous  opportu- 
nities to  the  Sunday-school  world  in  its 
new  Missionary  Department,  through 
which  it  is  planning  systematically  to  carry 
5 


missionary  inspiration  and  missionary 
teacher-training  to  every  part  of  the  field. 

During  the  last  triennium,  1905-08, 
forty-nine  thousand  Sunday-school  conven- 
tions were  held  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  These  conventions  are  the  open 
conduit  through  which  the  importance  of 
missionary  teaching  and  missionary  giving 
may  be  carried  to  a million  and  a half  of 
teachers  and  officers.  More  than  50,000 
conventions  will  be  held  in  the  next  trien- 
nium. In  these,  systematic  missionary  in- 
struction can  be  introduced,  daily  definite 
prayer  advised,  and  proportionate  syste- 
matic giving  urged.  Millions  of  pages  of 
missionary  literature  must  be  distributed, 
dealing  in  detail  with  methods  of  pro- 
cedure in  the  task  of  bringing  the  indi- 
vidual school  to  its  highest  efficiencj^,  and 
in  providing  the  agents  and  the  accessories 
for  the  world’s  speedy  evangelization. 

Through  the  interdenominational  empha- 
sis given  in  the  next  three  years  to  the 
Sundaj'-schools  of  all  of  the  denominations, 
by  means  of  the  organized  Sunday-school 
work,  thousands  of  mission  study  classes 
should  be  formed,  and  an  increase  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars  added  to  the 
several  denominational  missionary  treasu- 
ries. 

The  organized  Sunday-school  work  has 
seen  “ the  smoke  of  a thousand  villages.” 
Henceforth  it  is  the  yokefellow  of  each  de- 
nomination to  assist  it  to  make  effective  its 
own  denominational  missionary  plans,  and 
to  increase  its  denominational  missionary 
income. 

III.  The  Opportunity  of  Numbers 

The  Sunday-school  of  to-day  is  no  toy 
or  plaything.  It  is  a mighty  living  army. 

6 


Iu  North  America  alone  it  counts  its  hosts 
by  millions.  It  has  the  glorious  opportu- 
nity of  numbers.  It  need  not  hesitate  to 
undertake  any  task  for  God.  It  is  an 
army  of  occupancy  awaiting  a vision  that 
will  transform  it  into  an  army  of  conquest. 
Like  Israel  it  has  occupied  only  a part  of 
the  Promised  Land.  It  has  little  more 
than  crossed  the  Jordan,  yet  it  has  the 
promise  that  “every  place  that  the  sole  of 
your  foot  shall  tread  upon,  to  you  have  I 
given  it.’’  Not  the  United  States,  Canada, 
and  England  alone,  but  India,  China, 
Korea,  Japan,  Africa,  South  America,  and 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea  are  her 
promised  inheritance. 

The  Sunday-school  simply  awaits  the 
vision.  O for  a Moffat,  and  the  story  of 
the  “ smoke  of  a thousand  villages  ! ’’ 


IV.  The  Opportunity  of  Converting 
Each  Sunday  School  into  a Missionary 
Society 

Thousands  of  Sunday-schools  give  noth- 
ing to  home  or  foreign  missions.  Thou- 
sands of  others  have  no  method  of  syste- 
matically reaching  their  scholars  "with 
missionary  information  or  of  collecting 
missionary  funds.  Such  schools  are  with- 
out missionary  organization.  Their 
money  is  expended  largely  upon  them- 
selves ; likewise  their  energy.  They  have 
no  “outlook”  nor  have  they  an  “out- 
let.” The  Dead  Sea  is  a dead  sea  because 
it  has  no  outlet.  The  Sunday-school  that 
has  no  connection  with  the  missionary 
world  is  moving  toward  the  dead-line. 
Missionary  streams  are  the  fresh  vitalizing 
currents  that  keep  churches  and  schools 
7 


aglow.  A missionary  Sunday-school  can 
be  none  other  than  a live  and  growing 
school.  The  more  money  it  gives  for 
missions,  the  more  will  it  have  for  its  own 
rise.  This  is  a law  of  the  kingdom  : 
“There  is  that  scattereth  and  increaseth 
yet  more  ; and  there  is  that  withholdeth 
more  than  is  meet,  but  it  tendeth  only  to 
want.”  (Prov.  xi.24.)  It  has  been  proved  a 
thousand  times.  The  Sunday-school  which 
is  at  its  best  is  organized  into  a missionary 
society,  with  officers  and  a missionary 
committee.  The  salvation  of  thousands  of 
schools  depends  upon  their  organic  con- 
nection with  the  missionary  world  through 
a Sunday-school  missionary  society  organ- 
ized in  the  school.  The  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Sunday-schools  give  more  money  to 
missions  than  do  the  schools  of  other  de- 
nominations, because  the  law  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  demands  that  each 
Sunday-school  shall  be  organized  into  a 
missionary  society,  and  shall  take  an  offer- 
ing once  a month  for  missions.  When 
these  Sunday-school  missionary  societies  of 
Methodism  begin  to  utilize  the  educational 
plans  of  the  present  day  along  missionary 
lines,  no  seer  can  conceive  the  increase 
that  will  come  to  the  missionary  treasuries 
from  the  missionary  offerings  of  the  schools; 
for  missionary  education  will  have  given 
them  the  vision  of  the  “smoke  of  a thou- 
sand villages” — the  vision  that  compels 
sacrifice  and  service. 


V.  The  Opportunity  of  Youth 

The  Sunday-school  has  no  greater  asset 
than  its  young  life.  The  evangelization  of 
the  world  depends  upon  the  missionary 
idea  incarnate  in  flesh  and  bone,  in  blood 
8 


;*nd  heart,  in  mind  and  purpose.  Incarna- 
tions seldom,  if  ever,  occur  in  maturity. 
The  only  institution  that  deals  with  the 
child,  that  follows  him  through  youth,  to 
fashion  him  after  the  God-man  in  char- 
acter and  purpose,  is  the  Sunday-school. 
It  is  the  God-established  supply-station  of 
the  Church  for  missionary  workers.  Pity 
the  Sunday-school  that  sees  it  not.  It  is 
God’s  training-school  for  service.  Blind  is 
the  Sunday-school  that  fails  to  recognize 
this  to  be  its  mission.  It  is  incumbent 
upon  the  Sunday-school  to  suppl}'  the 
Church  with  its  missionary  leaders  and 
workers  and  to  raise  up  its  missionary 
givers.  No  other  institution  can  furnish 
them.  In  the  Sunday-school  of  to-day  are 
the  missionaries  of  fifteen  years  hence  in 
embryo.  There  they  will  get  their  bias 
toward  missions.  Many  a j’oung  mission- 
ary reveals  his  purpose  in  his  twenties, 
but  his  eyes  catch  the  “ smoke  of  a thou- 
sand villages  ” in  his  teens. 

With  the  teens  comes  the  inquisitive 
age.  Livingstone  was  an  explorer  in  his 
boyhood.  The  bugs  and  beetles,  flowers 
and  forestry,  hills  and  dales,  caves  and 
crags,  of  Scotland  were  the  stepping-stones 
to  Zambezi,  Lake  Nyasa,  and  the  heart  of 
an  unknown  continent. 

With  the  teens  we  also  find  the  acquisi- 
tive age ; the  period  when  strange  lan- 
guages are  easily  acquired.  It  is  the  age 
of  courage  and  aggressiveness  ; the  age  of 
enthusiasm,  blind  to  obstacles ; the  age 
that  questions  neither  strength  nor  powers 
of  endurance ; the  age  of  visions  and  of 
consecration  to  purpose. 

“ Pitt  entered  Parliament  at  twenty-two, 
and  was  prime  minister  of  Great  Britain 
before  he  was  twenty-five.  Timothy  was 
only  nineteen  when  he  w^as  converted,  and 


9 


at  twenty-oue  was  assistant  to  the  Apostle 
to  the  Gentiles.  Adoniram  Judson  devoted 
himself  to  missions  at  twenty-two,  and 
started  for  India  at  twenty-four.  At 
twenty-two  Robert  Morrison  was  commis- 
sioned to  open  Christian  work  in  China, 
kivingstone  wras  nineteen,  Chamberlain 
nineteen,  and  Thoburn  only  seventeen 
when  called  to  foreign  missions.” 

God  is  still  looking  to  youth  for  his 
missionaries.  In  this  year  1908,  the  Sun- 
day-schools of  North  America  have  in 
them  15,000  Livingstoues,  in  their  teens, 
waiting  for  a Moffat  to  point  them  to  the 
“ smoke  of  a thousand  villages.” 

Were  the  Sunday-school  to  cease  busi- 
ness to-morrow,  where  would  the  Church 
and  the  Kingdom  turn  for  its  workers? 
The  Sunday-schools  of  North  America  are 
already  giving  to  the  Church  ninety-five 
per  cent,  of  its  ministers,  ninety-five  per 
cent,  of  its  workers,  ninety-five  per  cent, 
of  its  missionaries,  eighty-five  per  cent,  of 
its  Church  members,  while  seventy  per 
cent,  of  the  churches  of  North  America 
were  organized  out  of  Sunday-schools. 
Without  the  Sunday-school  there  would 
be  no  army  of  workers  for  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association,  no  Student 
Volunteers,  no  Young  People’s  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  for,  where  there  are 
now  one  hundred  Christians,  there  would 
be  only  fifteen.  The  Sunday-school  is  the 
harvest-field  of  missionary  opportunity  for 
the  Church  of  God.  Its  output  is  wonder- 
ful, yet  with  little  effort  it  could  be  more 
than  doubled. 

The  resources  of  the  Sunday-school  as  a 
missionary- furnishing  agency  are  w7orthy 
of  consideration.  The  statistics  of  1907 
show  a Sunday-school  enlistment  for  North 
America  of  fifteen  millions.  If  out  of 


10 


every  one  thousand  Sunday-school  scholars 
could  come  one  missionary  it  would  give 
the  Church  an  additional  army  of  15,000 
missionaries — enough,  we  are  told,  when 
supplied  with  native  helpers,  to  reach  more 
than  the  entire  non-christian  world. 
These  figures  are  not  merely  speculative, 
they  are  in  the  realm  of  the  possible,  for 
many  Sunday-schools  have  already  sent  out 
into  mission  fields  more  than  one  for  each 
one  thousand  members. 

I predict,  from  a knowledge  of  the  field 
at  close  range,  that  the  time  is  near  when 
the  Sunday-school  of  three  hundred , which 
has  not  continuously  on  the  foreign  field 
some  one  of  its  members  devoting  his  or 
her  entire  time  to  missionary  work,  will  be 
ashamed  to  have  it  known. 

It  is  not  enough  for  the  Sunday-school 
to  teach  about  the  Eible.  It  must  rather 
continue  its  contact  with  the  pupil  until 
there  is  instilled  into  the  youthful  life 
which  is  being  trained  the  missionary  im- 
pulse of  the  inspired  Book.  It  is  not 
enough  to  win  a generation,  but  rather  to 
enlist  a generation  in  missionary  service. 

This  is  the  opportunity  of  the  Sunday- 
school  : to  pass  out  to  the  immediate  fu- 
ture a generation  “instant  with  the  mis- 
sionary spirit,  pervaded  with  a missionary 
passion,  responsive  to  the  missionary  mo- 
tive, seeking  the  attainment  of  the  mis- 
sionary end.’’  It  can  be  done  ! And  this 
it  will  do,  when  it  sees  the  “smoke  of  a 
thousand  villages,”  the  life- vision  of  Liv- 
ingstone. 

VI.  The  Opportunity  of  a Stupendous 
Need 

The  Sunday-school  has  so  long  been 
heedlessly  singing  and  hearing  about  the 


11 


‘ ‘ millions  ” in  the  heathen  and  pagan  world , 
that  the  term  has  lost  its  power  to  awaken 
interest  or  arouse  to  action.  The  stupen- 
dous needs  of  the  missionary  world  must  be 
presented  in  new7  form — in  some  statement 
that  w7ill  reveal  a startling  picture. 

Some  years  ago,  w7hen  Bishop  Thoburn 
stated  that  the  converts  to  Christianity  in 
India  approximated  a million,  a friend  ap- 
proached him  and  enthusiastically  said, 
“ That  is  glorious  news  ; at  that  rate  India 
will  soon  be  saved.”  The  Bishop  looked 
upon  him  in  pity,  as  he  saw  how7  little  he 
appreciated  the  vastuessof  the  Indian  field, 
and  said,  “Suppose  that  after  to-day  no 
more  children  w7ere  born  in  India  and  that 
all  who  are  now  living  there  were  to  remain 
alive  until  they  could  be  w7on  to  Christ. 
At  the  rate  of  a million  a year,  how  long 
do  you  think  it  would  take  to  reach  the 
last  one?”  The  friend  wrould  not  venture 
even  a guess.  " Three  hundred  years!" 
said  the  Bishop. 

Recently  I received  a letter  from  Rev. 
Chas.  E.  Scott,  of  Tsing-tau,  North  China, 
in  which  he  said:  “This  parish  contains 
more  souls  than  all  the  nation  of  Korea, 
(11,000,000),  and  has  an  equivalent  to  seven 
preachers  for  the  whole  United  States,  and 
practically  all  are  heathen.  I am  the  only 
pastor  in  fourteen  hundred  villages,  towns, 
and  wralled  cities  which  have  never  yet  heard 
the  Gospel.  This  is  not  God's  fault,  but 
that  of  an  indifferent,  self-satisfied  Church  ; 
and  the  key  to  the  awakening  lies  in  the 
Sunday-school.  Push  this  line  of  work. 
It  pays  big. 

After  having  given  this  picture  of  appal- 
ling need,  Mr.  Scott  further  writes  : “In  the 
face  of  such  needs,  think  of  three  or  four 
seminary  graduates  settling  dowru  in  a town 
of  from  500  to  1,000  people  wEo  are  simply 


12 


gospel- hardened.  There  are  over  250  such 
towns  in  Michigan,  my  native  State,  alone.” 
Such  figures  presented  to  any  Sunday- 
school  should  give  it  the  vision  of  the 
“ smoke  of  a thousand  villages  ” that  will 
arouse  to  sacrifice  and  call  to  service. 


VII.  The  Opportunity  of  Giving 

How  much  is  needed  ? Dr.  Goucher 
says,  “ Thirty  millions  a year.”  The 
adult  Church  is  giving  fifteen  millions  a 
year  for  home  and  foreign  missions.  The 
other  fifteen  millions  are  waiting  for  us 
in  the  Sunday-schools  of  North  America. 
It  is  there,  and  we  are  derelict  if  we  do 
not  plan  speedily  to  get  it.  It  will  come 
in  response  to  missionary  education  and 
prayer. 

There  is  but  one  stone  wall  between  the 
need  and  the  money — the  wall  of  ignor- 
ance. The  Suuday-school  does  not  know 
the  need.  We  have  37et  to  learn  how  to 
make  missionary  instruction  attractive  and 
palatable  to  boys  and  girls.  We  are  mak- 
ing some  valuable  experiments,  and  we 
need  to  make  more.  These  newer  methods 
have  thus  far  reached  only  a few.  The 
average  Sunday-school  child  and  youth 
has  no  conception  of  missions.  Missionary 
Sunday  is  simply  a special  occasion  with 
an  11  extra  pull”  on  the  pocketbook.  It 
is  often  a bore  to  both  old  and  young.  In 
many  Sunday-schools  the  missionary  offer- 
ing seems  like  throwing  money  into  the 
sea.  Much  of  it  is  given  under  protest. 
Not  because  the  Sunday-school  is* a close- 
fisted  institution.  It  is  not.  It  is  always 
liberal  when  interested,  and  it  is  always  in- 
terested when  informed.  The  Sunday- 


13 


School  is  not  liberal  in  its  missionary  offer- 
ings because  it  does  not  know.  Show  it 
the  “ smoke  of  a thousand  villages  where 
no  missionary  has  ever  been.’’  Put  it  in 
close  contact  with  the  missionary  world. 
Place  before  it  the  picture  of  the  heathen 
world  in  some  concrete  form.  Give  it 
some  conception  of  the  utter  blackness  of 
the  night  of  paganism,  and  the  need  of 
Jesus,  the  Light  of  the  world.  Then  the 
wealth  of  the  Sunday-school  will  flow  like 
a Niagara  into  the  treasuries  of  our  mis- 
sionary societies. 

It  is  possible,  within  the  next  ten  years, 
to  secure  from  the  Sunday-schools  of  North 
America  an  average  of  two  cents  a week  for 
missions.  That  means  a postage-stamp 
every  seven  days.  It  will  not  come 
through  a missionary  offering  once  a 
month,  nor  from  an  annual  collection.  // 
will  come  only  through  a systematic  weekly 
offering  of  two  or  more  cents  for  missions 
regularly  given  and  systematically  collected 
and  recorded. 

And  the  key  that  wrill  unlock  these 
treasures  is  missionary  education.  When 
the  Sunday-school  is  provided  with  “ sys- 
tematic graded  missionary  instruction,”  and 
is  trained  to  ‘ ‘ definite  daily  prayer,  ’ ’ then 
‘‘proportionate  systematic  giving”  will 
follow  as  day  follows  night. 

Fifteen  million  Sunday-school  scholars, 
at  two  cents  a wreek,  means  fifteen  million 
dollars  ; and  it  will  come  when  the  modern 
Moffats  fix  the  eyes  of  the  Sunday-school 
on  the  ‘‘smoke  of  a thousand  villages” 
until  they  catch  the  vision,  and  the  ears 
of  the  youth  of  Christendom  hear  the  cry 
of  a lost  world. 


>4 


VIII.  The  Opportunity,  through  Edu- 
cation, of  Substituting  Passion  for  Im- 
pulse 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity of  North  America  expresses  itself 
too  much  in  impulse  and  too  little  in  pas- 
sion. Impulse  rather  than  passion  is  re- 
vealed in  almost  every  phase  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  Christianity,  be  it  worship,  service, 
or  giving.  We  do  one  or  all  as  we  are  in- 
clined. 

I well  remember  a remark  of  Bishop  Wil- 
liam Taylor,  made  a few  years  ago,  as  he  left 
an  Ohio  camp-meeting  platform  after  preach- 
ing. He  said,  “I’d  rather  preach  in  India 
than  in  America.  ’ ’ When  asked,  ‘ ‘ Why  ?’  ’ 
he  answered,  “ Because  in  India,  when  a 
sinner  accepts  Christ  he  becomes  inocu- 
lated with  the  passion  of  soul-winning.  In 
America  the  new  convert  has  a momentary 
mpulse  for  soul-winning  immediately  fol- 
lowing his  conversion.  It  is  rarely  more 
than  a spasm.  It  soon  leaves  him. 
But  in  India,  the  Christian  once  saved, 
carries  to  his  dying  hour  the  passion  of 
saving  his  neighbor.  It  occupies  his  con- 
stant thought  and  engages  his  every  spare 
moment.” 

It  is  the  opportunity  of  the  Sunday- 
school  to  educate  toward  a missionary  pas- 
sion rather  than  toward  missionary  im- 
pulse. 

Some  one  has  said  that  there  are  three 
classes  of  Christians  in  the  Christian 
world:  the  “shirker,”  the  “jerker”  and 
the  “worker.”  The  first  is  the  church- 
member  who  stands  on  the  edges  of  the 
church  activities  and  looks  on.  He  ap- 
plauds the  preacher,  but  does  nothing  him- 
self. His  constant  prayer  is,  ‘ 1 1 pray 
thee  have  me  excused.”  The  “jerker” 


is  he  who  belongs  to  the  Church,  but 
whose  activity  is  spasmodic.  He  has 
spurts  of  activity.  He  is  usually  inter- 
ested in-  the  revival  meeting  and  is  present 
on  special  occasions,  but  no  dependence 
can  be  placed  upon  him  for  regular  work. 
He  is  “ off  and  on  ” in  his  religious  activ- 
ity. The  “worker  ” is  the  Christian  who 
never  loses  his  vision  ; who  is  regular  in 
worship,  in  religious  duties,  and  in  giving 
to  the  enterprises  of  the  kingdom.  He  be- 
longs to  the  faithful  minority  upon  whom 
the  preacher  and  the  Church  can  rely. 

It  is  the  opportunity  of  the  Sunday- 
school,  through  missionary  education,  in 
which  are  studied  the  lives  of  men  and 
women  whose  years  and  strength  have 
been  consumed  with  the  altruistic  spirit, 
to  pass  out  to  the  Church  a generation  pos- 
sessed with  a passion  for  sendee — a passion 
born  of  a vision  of  the  ‘ ‘ smoke  of  a thou- 
sand villages  where  no  missionary  has  ever 
been.” 

IX.  The  Opportunity  of  Inspiration 
through  Service 

Activity  in  missionary  effort  holds  for 
each  Sunday-school  a reflex  blessing — the 
blessing  that  grows  out  of  the  conscious- 
ness that  it  is  having  a part  in  something 
worth  while  ; the  sense  that  the  school  is 
really  needed  to  carry  forward  the  work 
of  the  kingdom  ; the  joys  of  altruistic  ser- 
vice. 

“ Papa!”  called  a little  girl  at  the  foot 
of  the  stairs  in  a western  parsonage, 
“ somebody  wants  you!”  That  was  the 
sixth  time  the  pastor’s  study  hour  had 
been  interrupted  by  callers  that  morning. 
With  some  impatience  he  left  his  room, 
soliloquizing  upon  the  petty  annoyances 
16 


of  the  pastorate,  when  the  echo  of  the  call, 
“somebody  wants  you,’’  arrested  his  im- 
patience and  gave  him  a new  view  of  his 
calling.  “Well,”  he  thought,  “ am  I not 
in  the  ministry  because  I thought  some- 
body wanted  me  ? Ought  I not  to  be 
pleased  rather  than  annoyed  when  some- 
body wants  me?  Did  I not  enter  the  min- 
istry because  I thought  somebody  would 
want  me?  Would  I care  to  continue  in 
this  work  if  nobody  wanted  me  ?”  Out  of 
this  brief  stair-case  meditation  there  came 
to  him  a new  inspiration  for  the  service 
in  the  thought  that  “somebody  wanted 
him  !” 

Upon  the  Sunday-school  alive  to  mis- 
sions is  soon  bestowed  the  blessings  of  al- 
truistic service  ; the  joy  of  service  to  others, 
growing  out  of  the  consciousness  that 
“somebody  wants  it;”  the  service  rend- 
ered in  response  to  need  ; the  appeal  of 
the  “ smoke  of  a thousand  villages.” 


X.  The  Opportunity  of  Acquiring 
Power  through  Cooperation 

Not  only  does  missionary  activity  in 
the  Sunday-school  bring  to  it  the  joys  of 
altruistic  service,  but  it  brings. to  the  school 
the  power  that  is  the  inevitable  product 
and  reward  of  connection  with  a world- 
movement.  In  this  age  isolation  means 
decay.  Water  cut  off  from  vitalizing 
streams  grows  stagnant  and  breeds  death. 

Along  the  New  Jersey  coast  and  the 
white-sanded  shores  of  the  South,  just 
back  from  the  ocean  a few  yards  or  a 
few  hundred  feet  may  be  found  little  lakes 
or  pools  cut  off  from  the  might}-  deep  by  a 
strip  of  sand.  These  elongated  pools  or 
lakes  are  of  little  value.  They  have  a. life 
of  their  own.  To  the  animalculae  found 


therein  the  pool  is  their  ocean ; but  its 
waters  are  of  no  service.  They  carry  no 
commerce.  They  have  no  sweep.  Their 
waters  lave  the  shore  to  no  purpose.  They 
are  parted  by  no  keel  of  ocean  steamer. 
They  are  ever  the  same ; without  power. 
Sometimes  a great  ocean  storm  will  sweep 
away  the  sand-bar  betweenone  of  these  pools 
and  the  ocean.  Then  the  pool  becomes  a 
part  of  the  ocean.  Its  waters  rise  and  fall 
with  the  tide  ; they  help  float  navies,  they 
become  part  of  the  world’s  pathways;  they 
take  to  themselves  the  power  and  the  sweep 
of  the  ocean,  and  enter  upon  a career  of 
service  and  freedom  and  strength.  They 
have  come  to  their  vision. 

The  average  Sunday-school  is  the  pool  ; 
the  sand-bar  is  ignorance  ; the  storm  is 
missionary  education.  Missionary  educa- 
tion will  bring  to  the  school  the  power  of 
the  ocean  of  world-movements.  It  will 
stimulate  and  strengthen  its  ever}’  activity, 
local  and  foreign.  It  will  show  it  the 
“smoke  of  a thousand  villages ” and  turn 
its  face  toward  the  divine  task  of  world- 
conquest. 


XI.  The  Opportunity  of  Missionary 
Education  in  the  Sunday  School  for  its 
Own  Sake 

One’s  world  is  no  larger  than  one’s  fund 
of  education.  The  more  one  knows  of  his- 
tory, literature,  science,  philosophy,  travel, 
and  language,  the  wider  is  one’s  horizon. 
Each  new  mental  acquisition  lifts  him  to  a 
higher  plane,  and  gives  him  greater  range  of 
vision.  He  needs  to  know,  not  only  that  he 
may  achieve,  but  for  bis  own  sake;  that  he 
may  be  enlarged  and  strengthened  in  life, 
and  may  reach  maturity  in  development. 
iS 


Likewise  missionary  education  brings  to  the 
Sunday-school  a training  and  a development 
it  can  acquire  in  no  other  way. 

The  Sunday-school  needs  an  increased 
faith  in  the  Word  of  God.  Nothing  can 
so  quickly  give  it  as  the  marvelous  stories 
of  the  conquest  of  Christianity  over  heathen 
and  pagan  nations  through  the  power  of 
the  Book. 

The  Sunday-school  needs  a stimulated 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  Savior  and  Lord. 
Nothing  can  so  strengthen  this  sovereign 
faith  as  can  the  thousands  of  missionary 
incidents  in  which  the  power  of  the  person- 
ality of  Jesus  Christ  has  been  revealed  in 
mission  fields. 

The  Sunday-school  needs  deepened  inter- 
cessory prayer.  Nothing  can  so  call  out 
agonizing  prayer  for  the  lost  as  a knowledge 
of  the  peoples  who  sit  in  the  dark  and  cry 
for  light. 

These  are  the  vital  needs  of  the  Sunday- 
school  world,  without  which  its  life  be- 
comes mechanical  and  cold  and  stereotyped. 
Where  these  are  lacking  in  the  soul  and  the 
religious  life  of  the  school,  doubts,  skepti- 
cism, formality,  and  apostasy  follow. 

Missionary  education  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  thespiritual  lifeof  the  Sunday-school. 
Oh,  that  all  ministers,  superintendents,  and 
teachers  could  see  that  for  its  own  sake  the 
Sunday-school  needs  the  discipline,  training, 
and  food  obtainable  only  through  a knowl- 
edge of  missions — their  need,  purpose, 
achievements,  triumphs,  and  glory.  With 
this  recognized,  the  Sunday-school  will  come 
to  itself  in  spiritual  life  and  Christian 
activity.  Oh,  that  it  might  see  the  “smoke 
of  a thousand  villages,”  and  hear  the  voice 
of  a Moffat! 


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